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The king and the rice
國王和米
A long time ago, there was a king in India. The king's favourite game was chess.
很久以前，印度有一個國王。國王最喜歡的游戲是國際象棋。
One day, a wise old man came to the palace and the king challenged him to a game.
一天，一個聰明的老人來到王宮，國王向他挑戰了一場比賽。
The king promised the old man, “You can have any prize if you win the game.”
國王向老人承諾：“如果你贏了這場比賽，你可以獲得任何獎金。”
The old man said, “If I win the game, I'd like one grain of rice for the first square of the chessboard,
老人說：“如果我贏了這場比賽，我想要棋盤上的第一格一粒米，
two for the second, four for the third, and then double the amount for each of the rest of the squares.”
第二格兩粒米，第三格四粒米，余下的每個格都要加倍的數量。”
“Is that all?” asked the king. “Wouldn't you like gold or silver instead?”
“就這些嗎？”國王問“你不喜歡金或銀嗎？“
“No, just rice,” replied the old man.
“是的，只要米，”老人回答說。
The king and the old man played the game for a long time.
國王和老人用了很長的時間玩了一局。
Finally, the old man won. So the king ordered his men to collect a bag of rice.
最后，老人贏了。于是國王命令他的人去取來一袋米。
He put one grain on the first square, two on the second, and so on.
他在（棋盤上的）第一格放了一粒米，在第二格上放了兩粒……
The king quickly realized the problem
國王很快意識到一個問題
-- even with all the rice in the country, he would still not have enough rice to put on all the squares!
——即使動用全國所有的大米，他也無法填滿（整副棋盤上）所有的方格！
